CLOVERDALE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — An education technology company headquartered in Putnam County is under new ownership. Standard for Success, which has developed a software platform for teacher evaluation, program assessment and graduation pathways tracking, has been acquired by Texas-based Education Advanced Inc.
Standard for Success was co-founded in 2011 by CEO Todd Whitlock and COO Diane Whitlock, two former educators and administrators from the Cloverdale school system.
The company says its platform is currently being used by schools in 38 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Australia, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
EAI, led by CEO Eli Crow, has created its own platform of software to help with school scheduling, school assessment coordination, and curriculum mapping and management.
“In the detailed internal discussions on how to grow the impact of SFS’s products, it became clear that the combined resources of our talents could have a much greater influence together than we could independently,” Todd Whitlock said in written remaks. “The team that Eli has put together is led by educators and that passion for education matched our mantra.”
EAI says the combined company will reach over 5 million students in more than 10,000 schools globally.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
ODON, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Odon-based Crane Credit Union says it has completed the acquisition of Our Community Bank, headquartered in the Owen County town of Spencer. Crane says the purchase was announced just two weeks ago and the deal was completed Tuesday, having received board and regulatory approval.
OCB has two locations, one in Spencer and the other in Cloverdale. Both branches will operate as branches of Crane.
“We look forward to assisting the Our Community Bank team in Spencer and Cloverdale in building on their existing customer relationships,” said Crane CU President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Sparks. “By teaming with OCB, we will expand our services to Owen and Putnam Counties, which fit within our existing market areas stretching from the Greater Indianapolis area to Evansville.”
With the acquisition complete, Crane now has 20 branch locations in central and southern Indiana.
CLOVERDALE, In (Inside INdiana Business) — South Dakota-based POET LLC, the nation’s largest biofuels producer, is moving forward with its plan to shut down its biorefining plant in Cloverdale, leaving 50 Hoosiers without jobs effective Friday.
The company told Inside INdiana Business that it was not making any changes to the plans that POET announced two months ago that it intended to close the plant in Putnam County. A company spokesperson says layoffs are still taking place and the company is not reconsidering the plan to idle the plant.
In August, the ethanol-producing company sent a WARN notice to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development indicating workers would be laid off. In the letter dated August 20, the company said it “has decided to cease operations indefinitely and that a mass layoff at its facility…shall occur.” The notice also indicated that October 18 would be the last day on the job.
“A small portion of the facility shall continue to operate for purchasing and storing product there, but actual production shall cease indefinitely,” said the company in the letter.
The company accuses the EPA of misusing the Small Refinery Exemption, which gives smaller oil refineries a waiver on fulfilling the federally mandated Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS dictates how much ethanol will be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply and how much biodiesel must be blended with petroleum-based diesel.
POET opened the ethanol refinery in April 2011, the company’s fourth biofuels plant in the state. According to the company website, POET purchased the 90 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant from Altra Biofuels in June 2010.
The company says it spent about $30 million for upgrades before its opening in 2011. Its annual corn consumption was 31 million bushels.
CLOVERDALE, Ind. (WISH) — A family in Cloverdale is dealing with a loss and tragedy.
After two months, they’re still trying to recover from both emotionally and financially.
A car crash in February killed Curt Keesee and severely injured his wife, Heather. He left behind four young children.
To celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary, Heather and Curt went on a date in Cloverdale, something family said they rarely did in their life devoted to four kids.
On their way home, Kurt lost control of his car. They went end over end. The car caught fire. He died on the scene, and Heather was airlifted to a hospital. She broke her back, her clavicle, 10 ribs and had a punctured lung.
“She couldn’t get to breathing too heavy because of that hole in her lung and, if she moved too much, it could have paralyzed her,” said Tricia Baldwin, Heather’s sister.
They didn’t have Curt’s funeral for a while because Heather could not initially walk. They waited as she fought to do that for weeks. But, Tricia said, her sister’s challenges are just beginning.
Heather is still not moving much. She has nonstop doctor visits. She can’t go back to work as a bartender and has rising medical bills.
No money is coming in. She’s raising four kids.
Family is doing what they can; the community has stepped up to raise money. The work continues on Saturday, when a benefit will happen at the Moose Lodge 1502 at 212 W. Franklin St. in Greencastle for a pool tournament and dinner. All proceeds will go to the family. It starts at 5 p.m.
MONROVIA, Ind. (WISH) – A state police trooper was hurt Monday afternoon when his car hydroplaned and then rolled several times before coming to rest in a ditch off Interstate 70 in Hendricks County.
Master Trooper DuJuan Presley-McFadden, a 20-year veteran of the Indiana State Police, was driving a a 2018 Dodge Charger to a crash scene about 1:45 p.m. when the car hydroplaned on I-70 about a mile northeast of the Monrovia exit for State Road 39, said a news release from Senior Trooper B.J. Patterson.
The trooper’s car stopped rolling after it struck an “I-beam” of a road sign, the release said.
Presley-McFadden was on his way to an I-70 crash about 22 miles away near the Cloverdale exit for U.S. 231 in Putnam County.
The trooper was treated at Hendricks Regional Health hospital in Danville for cuts, abrasions and head injuries and later released.
Indiana received heavy rain on Monday afternoon.
Presley-McFadden was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash.
GREENCASTLE, Ind. (WISH) — The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department said a husband and wife died in a Friday morning crash on Interstate 70.
The sheriff’s department said in a news release issued Tuesday that they were first called at 5:22 a.m. Friday about a semitractor-trailer on fire in the median about 3 miles east of the Cloverdale exit.
Tommy and Charlene Weeks died in the crash, according to the Putnam County coroner, the release said. Tommy was driving and had a medical issue, the release said.
The release did not indicate where the couple was from or their ages, but said the semitrator was registered out of Malvern, Arkansas.
CLOVERDALE, Ind. (WISH) – U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler on Monday announced federal charges against two men accused of possessing a stolen firearm.
Terry W. Morris II, 18, of Cloverdale, and Austin G. Greene, 19, of Bedford, were arrested last week and remain in the custody of the United States Marshal’s Service, according to Minkler’s office.
“Possessing stolen firearms is a crime we take very seriously” said Minkler. “Those who choose to illegally sell firearms, introducing them to the underground market and contributing to the violence in our communities should prepare to face federal prosecution.”
On July 31, ATF agents were contacted by the Cloverdale Police Department and informed of a burglary at Guy’s Gun Locker, where someone had broken a hole through the south wall and stolen over 35 firearms.
Law enforcement learned that Greene and Morris had some of the firearms allegedly stolen from Guy’s Gun Locker and made covert firearm purchases from both defendants.
“The citizens of Cloverdale and the Cloverdale Police Department are thankful for the outstanding support and teamwork provided by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and explosives along with the Indiana State Police in connection with the burglary at Guy’s Gun Locker,” said Cloverdale Town Marshal Steven L. Hibler.
The case is being investigated by ATF and the Cloverdale Police Department.
CLOVERDALE, Ind. (WISH) – All eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed in Putnam County on Saturday night after a multiple-vehicle crash, perhaps caused when a dog interrupted traffic.
The crash occurred about 8 p.m. between county roads S 650 E and S 1000 E, about 5 miles east of the Cloverdale exit. One of the two lanes of eastbound I-70 had reopened by 10:15 p.m., but a long line of backed-up traffic remained.
Sgt. Joe Watts with the Indiana State Police said vehicles had slowed for a dog in the road. As a result a semitractor-trailer rear-ended a passenger car and then a second semitractor-trailer.
One semi driver was airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries. Two occupants in the car were taken to a hospital for minor injuries.
The crash was Saturday’s second multiple-vehicle collision on Interstate 70 in Indiana. The first on Saturday morning in Hancock County killed Joseph Stehle, 65, of Donnelsville, Ohio.
GREENCASTLE, Ind. (WISH) – A Greencastle man will spend two decades in prison for his role in the shooting of a Cloverdale police officer in 2016.
Jeffrey P. Hunter, 50, initially was a suspect in the theft of a chainsaw from the Tractor Supply Co. store on Dec. 10, 2016. Police later that day confronted Hunter at his home in the 4400 block of East County Road 375 South near Greencastle. The shooting began as police officers tried to pull Hunter from his home while he carried a double-barrel shotgun, court records showed.
Officer Luke Brown was shot in the chest with the shotgun. He wearing a bulletproof vest and suffered injuries that were not life-threatening after being .
The officer returned fire and hit Hunter in the abdomen area. He was briefly hospitalized for his injuries.
Charges against Hunter included attempted murder and theft. During his sentencing Thursday, he asked for his guilty plea to be withdrawn, but the Putnam County Circuit Court denied the request. He was sentenced to 26 years in the Indiana Department of Correction with six years suspended. He remained in the Putnam County jail on Monday, according to online records.
CLOVERDALE, Ind. (WISH) — A 55-year-old man was killed in a crash involving a bicycle and pickup truck Tuesday afternoon in Putnam County.
Authorities said the crash was reported around 1:50 p.m. near the intersection of State Road 243 and County Road 1175 South. When Indiana Conservation Officers arrived on the scene, they discovered the bicyclist, Michael Gilham, entrapped underneath a the pickup truck. Gilham was pronounced dead at the scene.
The accident remains under investigation. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday morning.